The present disclosure relates generally to error tracking within a table of an application, such as a spreadsheet application.
This section is intended to introduce the reader to various aspects of art that may be related to various aspects of the present disclosure, which are described and/or claimed below. This discussion is believed to be helpful in providing the reader with background information to facilitate a better understanding of the various aspects of the present disclosure. Accordingly, it should be understood that these statements are to be read in this light, and not as admissions of prior art.
Spreadsheet applications, as well as other types of applications, may use rows and columns of cells (such as tables of such cells) to allow a user to enter or manipulate data for calculation or presentation. Tables of cells used in such applications may range from a limited number of cells in simple or straightforward implementations to having a large number of cells in more complex scenarios. To allow a user greater flexibility, it is not uncommon for an application to allow a cell (or a formula defined within a cell) to reference other cells within a spreadsheet or table for values, calculations, or formulas defined within the referenced cells. For example, one cell may contain a formula for adding or otherwise mathematically manipulating a set of values that are defined in other cells of a spreadsheet.
One consequence of such cell referencing is that an error in one cell may result in downstream errors in cells that reference the error containing cell. In complex situations where multiple cells are referenced by a given cell or where a chain or sequence of cells reference one another or a sequence of cells, it may be difficult to identify which cell or cells contain errors as both the error-causing cell and the referencing cells may be tagged as having an error. Thus, the convenience of being able to reference other cells in a formula or calculation may be offset by the difficulty that may arise in troubleshooting such an arrangement when errors exist in one or more of the referenced cells. In such instances, troubleshooting the referenced cells to locate the errors may be a tedious and time consuming endeavor.